Survivor Recounts Shootings

`If It Was Up To Me, I Would've Fought,' Worker Says In Murder Trial

With a gun pointed at her head and two panicked co-workers at her side, she wanted to fight.

But there wasn't time, and Barbara Nunn was shot in the head. Moments later, her Waffle House co-workers, Christina Delarosa, 17, and Willie Absolu, 29, were shot and killed by the same man.

Nunn survived to identify the gunman, Gerhard "Chip" Hojan, 28, and his accused accomplice, Jimmy Mickel, 34, a former employee at the Waffle House in Davie. Since then, she has told her story to police, to lawyers and in October to a jury that found Hojan guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping and armed robbery. In November, a jury voted 9-3 to sentence Hojan to death.

Mickel, whose trial began this week, faces the same charges and could receive the death penalty if convicted. His attorney, Lawrence C. Roberts, said the prosecution will have to prove Mickel knew a crime was going to be committed and he participated willingly. Broward State Attorney Michael Satz prosecuted the Hojan case and is also handling the one against Mickel.

On Thursday, Nunn, 38, a mother of three, again recounted the night when she, Delarosa, the mother of a baby boy, and Absolu were herded into a freezer by Hojan and Mickel and then shot.

"If it was up to me, I would've fought," Nunn said. She said she felt trapped, confused and unable to think because Delarosa was pleading for help and calling for her baby son, Kyle.

"I felt like I just couldn't get things together," she said. "I was trying to keep her calm. I felt like everything wasn't going to be OK."

The March 11, 2002, ordeal began about 3:55 a.m., when Mickel and Hojan entered the restaurant and ordered a waffle, two sodas and a cup of coffee. Delarosa waited on them and even cooked the waffle.

About 40 minutes later, Mickel left the restaurant by the front door and Hojan walked to the cash register, saying he would pay the bill. But instead, Hojan pulled out a gun and pointed it at Delarosa.

"He tells us to do what he says," Nunn recalled. Just then, Mickel stalked back into the restaurant and headed for the back.

Hojan forced Nunn, Delarosa and Absolu through the kitchen to a dry storage area where they found Mickel using bolt cutters to remove a padlock from a cooler. After cutting the lock, Mickel stepped aside and Hojan forced the three through the cooler and into a freezer, Nunn said.

"I asked Jimmy were we going to be OK. He didn't answer me," she added.

Nunn said she never saw Mickel again. Hojan returned several times to demand their cell phones and cash before finally pointing the gun at them.

Nunn said she fell to the floor. She opened her eyes in time to see Delarosa crossing her arms over her face before being shot. She passed out and awoke to find Absolu's legs on top of her. She crawled through the freezer door and through the cooler and ran out the restaurant's back door, making her way to a nearby gas station for help.

The trial is expected to continue into next week.

Vicky Agnew can be reached at vagnew@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7922.